Match the medium to the message and the audience. That’s essentially the charge of any marketer. So, what constitutes a marketing medium today?

If you can think of it, shoehorn your brand’s message to it, get approval up the chain, and disseminate it, it’s a marketing medium. Nothing’s beyond the pale, so the more absurd, shocking, or bizarre, the better, right?

Hold on, though. If the absurdity of the medium outweighs the message, I wonder whether you can consider your mission accomplished. Let’s take the body waxing story I linked to above. Take a look at this video:

Now—without going back to the video—can you name the company it was promoting? I couldn’t. (It’s Toronto’s Fuzz Wax Bar, by the way.)

However, I had no problem recalling that Dollar Shave Club was behind this bit of “beardvertising.” The irony of advertising a product that causes beardlessness on a big, bushy beard is striking and memorable.

So, that’s the key to all this. If you’re thinking of going with one of these rogue marketing ideas, make sure the medium is only part of the story. As with pretty much all marketing, it’s successful only if your message resonates.